Congee for the Soul

For all those who know me, and have been following this blog and my Instagram feed, would know by now that I’m quite the lazy cook. Lazy yes, yet making sure the dish is quite wonderful in every aspect. As I believe its the simplest of meals that taste the best. Like this Congee I’m sharing today. Its simpler than you can imagine and you could do a thousand versions of it, if you let your imagination run wild. Congee is a thick Rice porridge popular in many Asian countries, preferred most as its the ultimate comfort food – its easy to digest and simple to cook. When plain it is served as a side dish, but when loaded it fails up as a meal in itself.. The porridge can be made simply by over boiling rice on slow flame or can be boiled together with choice of meat or fish and flavourings. I love to serve it up with condiments, as its the fried garlic, or julienne ginger, finely chopped red / green chillies, corriander, spring onions, if you can get your hands on some pickled mustard greens, some bamboo in chilli oil, if you wish to go Thai, then some fish sauce with lime sugar n chilli, some sesame oil , some chilli oil … its all these magically ingredients that brings this humble dish alive.

Ingredients

1 cup Small Rice ( you can use whatever white rice you have lying around, at the end its all going to boil and break down )

2.5 liters Stock ( either Vegetable / Chicken / Beef )

1/2 Chicken on Bone Cut into small pieces ( omit this if you are making a vegetarian one )

4 -5 Thick slices of Ginger

Salt to taste

Spring Onions – garnish

Red Chilli’s chopped – garnish

Chopped Garlic – deep fried till brown and crispy – garnish

Sesame Oil – garnish

Chilli Oil – garnish

Pickled Chinese Vegetables – garnish

Light Soy Sauce – to serve

In a heavy based pot, bring the stock to boil.

Add the rinsed rice, chicken and ginger.

Boil on slow flame for an hour till the the rice has broken down. The congee might thicken, so keep adding more stock as necessary.